day 4 continued - we hate air canada

air canada can bite me...or maybe more aptly...air canada did just bite me. they oversold our flight and amy and i were stuck with the short end of the stick getting bumped to a yet to be determined flight. turns out the next best flight was 9p getting us in at 11p...so we had to wait 6 hours in the airport!

they're trying to be nice to us, but we kept getting more and more angry. is this worth 6 hrs delay sitting in the airport? $24 in food and $160 (notice the $0.40 candadian i was stuck with after converting the $200CA they gave us). this doesn't include how much it will cost us to get back home from sfo. i don't think so. air canada sucks!

day 4 chronicles of the non-patriots

it's a wrap!

day 4 got off to another late start....this time due to wimbeldon. historic win by federer over andy roddick. too bad there had to be a loser in this one. we like both ferderer and roddick, but would have been nice to see the american take the championship.

after the match, we packed up our stuff, checked out and headed to stanley park. didn't have much time, so we zipped through. zoomed by the totem poles, stopped briefly at the lighthouse to snap some pics, and then dropped by a small concession stand to get something in our bellies.

all in all a good trip. this is a beautiful city with friendly folks. unfortunately our flight is delayed and air canada's service is for shit. their employees are less rude, but more lazy than any US carrier. i hope, for canada's sake, they fix this before the olympics next year!

map from our last day!

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day 3 chronicles of the non-patriots

(original post w/ map here.)

we started out day 3 a little later the last couple days. decided to take an hr harbor cruise. we got ready quickly and headed out.

it felt a little crisp out, but turned out to be another great day. no sweaters or jackets needed. :) we hopped aboard a harbor cruise and enjoyed the late morning cruising around the harbor. didn't quite take us very far, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

we haven't felt like we've had a decent meal yet, so we decided to hit one of the korean food restaurants we passes on robson road yesterday. settled into one and were happy to find it to be a chinese korean food joint - jajang myun jeep. literally the best food we've eaten all trip!

during lunch, we decided to take a stroll to yaletown, vancouver's shee-shee area. after a few blocks, i started to wonder if my internal gps was working properly so we stopped mid-way to calibrate w/ the map...and took a quick pic in the town's gay district while sitting in front of a small community garden.

we made it to yaletown soon thereafter and ducked into a shop called basquiat. while looking around...we ran into friends of ours, janet and george, who drove up last minute just to hang in vancouver for the weekend! wandered around a bit, had lunch together (we snacked on some veggies). was a lot of fun...more so when amy lost a bet about elizabeth hasselback and had to down a beer and then a silly conversation about "succeeding", "seceding" and "hononeems".

we finished the day hitting the granville public market (not worthwhile - very pier 39ish) and then strolling/shopping in kitsalano on 4th street. janet and george were nice enough to drive us back to the hotel.

after some deliberation and walking around, decided agains guu, and went for thai instead. simple, but it did the trick. we're getting tired of eating out and something about all the other restaurants didn't look too appetizing. we decided that it's better and more enjoyable to leave the finer dining to occasions with friends. all we need are the simple things to keep us content. ;)

Map for today's journey.

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day 2 chronicles of the non-patriots

day 2 started off w/ coffee and pastries from take5, a coffee shop downstairs. gathered up our stuff and we set off for lake buntzen...about 40 mins from our hotel.

got our butts in the car and rolled out the trusty garmin. gave it another whirl and this time seemed to work OK!

rolled through downtown and out east towards the lake. drove through chinatown and, a few miles down the road, were again surprised to see so many korean shops. the one pictured to the left took a little time to figure out. we couldn't quite figure out the korean...peeesssooo-ohhh gguuurreeelll. fish and grill! haha...maybe not that fun for you, but we got a chuckle out of it. :)

got to our destination and picked our hike - the buntzen lake trail. 8km with ~100m elevation change. very sunny today, but the trail was mostly shaded which made it pleasantly cool. the flora and fauna are very similar to what we've got back home...redwoods, ferns, mosses. the only thing we saw that was different were the blackberry bushes. the blackberry bushes up here aren't thorny and grow on much more delicate looking stalks. :P

stopped half-way for lunch and took in the scenery. what a beautiful place and what a great day! after we had our fill, we headed back. the second half of the hike was a lot more strenuous...but we managed to make it back AOK. stopped at the beach and dipped our tired feet into the nice cool lake. ayyy shiwonhae!

here's a slide show of our pics from the hike! fb may not render this so you may have to go to www.blogarhythms.com to see the pics and today's map.

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Had dinner at tojos off granville road. sushi was good, but way over-priced. don't bother.

day 1 chronicles of the non-patriots

who'd ever think of leaving the country on 4th of july?

After rushing to the airport thinking we were going to miss our flight, we landed in vancouver about 3o mins ahead of schdedule. airport was rather empty, but nice...very apparent that they're preparing for the 2010 olympics by prettying everything up.

picked up the car and managed to get to the hotel ok despite a flaky gps system. garmin (sp?) units are garbage. it's easy to forget the convenience of being connected via a bb w/ phone, email and MAPs!

settled into the hotel. four seasons here is nice, but not as nice as others we've stayed in. ah well...we got a bargain price. one thing that's nice is the location. we're smack in the heart of city.

took a stroll down robson road...the main shopping/eating artery of downtown. surprised to see so many korean restaurants and even a nohrehbang! toyed with idea of eating at one (sheektang)...but decided against it. after all, did we come to canada to eat korean food? i guess that's what separates the 2.0's from the 1.0's. OG koreans travel around the world and will only to eat at korean restaurants!

headed to the raincity cafe utilizing our trusty lonely planet. when we got there decided instead to eat at the milestone cafe. great weather and fantastic view. food was decent - ribs appetizers were good (i was starving!) and the prime rib was cooked well. amy had a pasta dish that was...eh...so so. service was very good and meal decently priced...worth checking out if you're visiting.

took a walk along the beach after we finished eating. fantastic. this is a really beautiful city.
stays light here quite late. the pictures here are from around 8p! we strolled along, planned what we were going to the following days and enjoyed the scenery.

as we walked along the ocean, i suggested to amy that she feel the water. there were some steps down to the water and i snapped a pic...wait a sec! take a closer look and...say no to crack!


Our route today (this is pretty sweet!)

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Continuing

Continuing
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after party at bubble lounge
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La mar

La mar
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Bday dinner for amy, esther, ed!
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Beautiful view 20/20

Beautiful view 20/20
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Just finished up ucsf follow-up. 20/20!

:)

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Using amy sun glasses for protection!

Using amy sun glasses for protection!
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:P
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Just finished lasik

Just finished lasik
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Prob the most nreve racking few mins of my life but dave hwang at ucsf is a total pro!

So far so good! Vision alread better than before without glasses!!!
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Ghetto fabulous last drink

Ghetto fabulous last drink
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Strawberry beer amy an jen!
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Ny pizza here I come

Ny pizza here I come
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Starving!
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